Hire an In-House Designer or Use a Studio?
By CodexierPublished 5 min read
Once a company has a product, a website and marketing that all need design, the question comes up: should we hire a designer or keep buying from a studio? Both answers can be right. The comparison is usually done badly, putting a monthly salary next to an hourly rate. This guide compares the full costs, looks at how steady your workload really is, and describes the mixed model that many growing companies end up with.
The full cost of an employee
The salary is the visible part. In Sweden the employer pays social security contributions of roughly a third on top of gross salary, plus occupational pension if you have a collective agreement or offer one to be competitive. Holiday pay, sick days and parental leave mean a full-time employee delivers fewer productive weeks than the calendar shows. Add a computer, design software licences, font and stock asset subscriptions, recruitment time or fees, onboarding months, and the time a manager spends giving direction and feedback.
| Cost item | Employee | Studio |
|---|---|---|
| Salary or fee | Monthly, fixed | Per project or retainer |
| Employer contributions and pension | On top of salary | Included in the price |
| Holidays, sick leave | Paid, not productive | Not your cost |
| Tools and licences | Yours | Included |
| Recruitment and onboarding | Weeks to months | A briefing meeting |
| Management time | Ongoing | Project follow-up |
| Ending the arrangement | Notice period under employment law | End of project or retainer term |
Project fees and retainers
A studio charges more per hour than a salary works out to, because the price includes all the costs above plus the studio's own overhead and margin. What you get in return is flexibility: you pay for the work, not for the gaps between work. Fixed-price projects, such as a design sprint or a UX audit, cap the risk further because the scope is set before work starts.
- Fixed-price projects: best for clearly bounded work such as a prototype, a redesign or a design system.
- Retainers: a set amount of capacity per month, good for steady but part-time needs.
- Hourly: flexible, but harder to budget; agree on a cap.
Our own design services are listed with fixed prices on the pricing page, and the most common starting point is a product design sprint.
Workload: steady or in bursts
This is the deciding factor. Look back over the last year and forward over the next: how many weeks had real design work, and how many would a designer have spent on small tasks or waiting? A product company shipping every week usually has steady work. A service company that redesigns its website every few years and makes campaign material a few times a year has bursts.
| Your situation | Usually the better choice |
|---|---|
| Software product with continuous releases | In-house designer, possibly with studio support |
| One big project, then small updates | Studio for the project, small retainer or ad hoc after |
| Marketing material a few times a year | Studio or freelancer |
| Unclear needs, early stage | Studio projects until the pattern is clear |
Skills breadth vs depth
Design is several disciplines: user research, interaction design, visual and brand design, accessibility, design systems and sometimes motion. One person is rarely strong at all of them. An in-house designer gains depth in your product and users, which a studio cannot match. A studio offers breadth: it can put a researcher on one phase and a design system specialist on another. Be honest about which you need more.
A first design hire who works alone also lacks peers to review their work. Budget for outside critique or training, or the quality will drift without anyone noticing.
A mixed model
Many growing companies land in between: one in-house designer who owns the product and the day-to-day work, plus a studio brought in for peaks, specialist tasks or a second opinion. The in-house designer then also becomes the person who briefs and reviews external work, which makes the studio more effective. Our guide on how to brief a designer helps whichever model you choose.
When not to use a studio: if you already have steady full-time design work and a clear role, hire. Paying a studio month after month for work that never stops is the expensive option. If you are not sure yet, book a short call and describe your last year of design work; the pattern usually answers the question.
Frequently asked questions
When is a company big enough for an in-house designer?
Size matters less than workload. When there is steady design work for a full-time role for the foreseeable future, and someone who can manage and review it, hiring usually pays off.
Is a freelancer cheaper than a studio?
Often per hour. A studio offers more breadth, backup when someone is ill and usually a fixed-price structure. For a single well-defined task, a skilled freelancer can be the right choice.
Can a developer do the design instead?
For internal tools and small changes within an existing design system, sometimes. For new products, onboarding flows and anything customer-facing, a designer usually saves more than they cost.
What should a first in-house designer focus on?
The core product flows and a small design system that developers can reuse. Visual polish of rarely used screens can wait.
Not sure whether to hire or buy design?
Describe your design work over the last year and what is coming. On a short call we will tell you honestly whether a hire, a studio or a mix fits your workload.
Book a free 15-minute call